EIGHT ‘super cyclists’ completed an intrepid bike ride from Edinburgh to Southport in just four days.

The Southport men, employees of Paymentshield in Wight Moss Way, took on the challenge in order to raise money for Queenscourt Hospice and Cancer Research UK.

So far they have beaten their original target and raised £11,000, a figure which is still increasing.

Graham Johnston, super cyclist and Paymentshield employee, said: “It has put about 10 years on us, but it’s a great sense of achievement, not just to cycle that far but to raise a good amount of money for our charities.”

Setting off from Edinburgh on Saturday, the ‘pedal posse’ travelled 222miles over the course of the bank holiday weekend, before arriving back at Paymentshield’s Southport office on Tuesday morning.

The men arrived back almost exactly on schedule, despite travelling 20miles in the wrong direction on the first day.

HR director, Mark Davies said: “That was probably the low point of the trip! We had bad weather on Saturday, and took a wrong turn. We ended up going 20 miles in the opposite direction to the way we were supposed to!”

The idea for the ride came about when the creation of the company’s second office in Edinburgh coincided with a new travel policy being introduced to staff, encouraging them to use public transport, and, wherever possible, to cycle to work.

Mark said: “We have recently opened an office in Edinburgh and the cycle ride seemed like the ideal way to create links between the two, as well as raising money for charity. I think a few of the team are already talking about doing more events, but for now we’re still recovering!”

The team, who kept their energy levels up with energy drinks and flapjacks, crossed the finishing line at the Southport office and went straight into work.

Graham Johnston said: “I had a board meeting to attend as soon as I got back. I had to make sure people kept nudging me to keep me awake!

“I would recommend it though. At times it was a bit of a struggle but with hindsight we all laugh about it. That’s why it was so much fun.”